Planning time

Thanksgiving is over and so is the eating and sitting around.  Since I raced Wisconsin I have watched my friends compete and kill the courses at Kona, Florida, Arizona (Yeah Christy) and today again at Cozumel (Sonja at www.gosonja.com.) Actually Sonja just finished at a crazy fast 10:00:33 and second in her age group..guess she will be going back to Kona again!  I have also been reviewing potential races for next year, talking to my friends about their plans and trying to get a grasp on how 2012 will shape up.

I have been putting off the formal training schedule but need to get back at it.  I spoke with Doreen and she does not plan on an Ironman next year but to focus on speed and shorter courses.When I say short I mean 70.3s.  Her objective is to qualify for the long course nationals..something I am sure that she can do. I am excited for her but sad for me since that means my really long rides and runs this summer will be without Doreen simply because she does not need to put the mileage in.  I am hoping I can find another training partner in those summer months that plans on doing Ironman Louisville or even Florida so that their training mirrors mine.

I also downloaded The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing by Phillip Maffetone in order to help plan my season.  The book is very interesting.  Maffetone's theory regarding training is to do almost all the aerobic base training at a very specific heart rate.  In general that heart rate is 180 - your age.  There are some other factors which will either add or subtract from the heart rate such as fitness level, years of training, injuries in the past etc..but the 180- age is the starting point.  My heart rate is 135.  The vast majority of my runs and bikes would be done at the 135 with very few if any aerobic sessions.  Maffetone believes that training at this heartrate, which is below anaerobic, will build a huge aerobic base which will make you faster.  In fact, he recommends doing MAF testing quite frequently to judge the improvements.  A sample MAF test would require a person to run 3 miles at exactly their specified heart rate.  You would keep track of the mile times and the overall time.  In theory, every time you take the test you should be running the 3 miles faster at exactly the same heart rate.  If that does not happen the athlete should look at what issues are keeping them from improving..i.e. over training, injury, sickness..etc.  I am still putting my schedule together but I think I am going to try his theory for a month or two and see how it goes.  I am going to stray a bit by putting strength exercises in a couple times a week since I really did feel weak toward the end of last season.  Maffetone frowns on anaerobic exercising during the base period including strength training.

The book is big and contains a lot of information.  There is also a lot on nutrition as well as training.  One thing that Maffetone suggests is taking a two week test in which you cut almost all carbs from your diet as well as processed foods and sugars.  This is not a lifestyle change but a chance for you to see how your body reacts to cutting the carbs out of the diet.  He believes that a lot of people will see dramatic weight loss in those two weeks as well as improvement in their MAF test and generally feel better.  I am going to take this test starting Monday November 28 along with a few other people I know.  I will follow the diet and let everyone know how it goes.

One last thing, Our volleyball team won the City Championship!! A shout out to my friends and teammates, Kristine, Angie, Melissa, George and Matt. We lost one game all season and swept the tourney..although there were a couple of very tough matches.

 Yes..we really are that gangsta.  I wish I had a better picture but unfortunately about an hour later as we celebrated our victory at a local drinking establishment, our car was broken into with the culprits taking Kristine's volleyball bag which contained our shoes, balls, camera and my wedding ring..along with my tri bag which contained my garmin, mp3 player etc..  I am still waiting for the insurance company to get back to me on how they are going to handle the loss.  We will see if I give them a good or bad review.

Off Seaon - Plan or no Plan

So the off season is here. How do I know this?  I am eating like it is the football and holiday season.  As of today I am up to 219.5. Ugh. I have also officially done nothing this past week.  Unfortunately after my last race real life, work, the holidays, friends, stress, etc.. worked their way back into my life. Some of this is good and some bad.  The trick now is to find a balance.  I have obviously been eating to make up for the food I was not eating during training.  I now find myself in a spot where I need to take off weight which was already gone.  Not a big deal since I know I can do it.  The real challenge I face is finding a balance between everything in my life.  I need to treat training/exercise as a meeting that has to be scheduled and adhered to.  With the shorter days and cooler temps it is all too easy to push off my plans until the next day.  This week I plan on just doing about 45 minutes of cardio everyday.  I also am going to read up on a few eating plans and let you know what I think about them and if they would work for me. I am interested in the engine 2 diet which is mostly vegan based and the paleo diet which is a favorite among crossfitters.  I have already started reading Training Weight by Matt Fitzgerald which simply confirms that guys my size should not be doing endurance events..lol. Lastly I will be putting together a structured plan for the next 6 - 8 weeks and also try to plan some races for the year.  So stay tuned. Hopefully there will be a plan. Of course I also caught a cold this weekend so we will see how my whining affects my plan.

I also want to give a shout out to my friend and training partner Doreen who finished Ironman Florida in 13:16:18 beating her goal of 13:30 and setting a personal PR.  Awesome job..just remember you could not have done it without me! 

Have You Seen My Motivation..it was here somewhere..probably with my keys.

As the end of October approaches I am already firmly in the grips of the winter doldrums.  I really thought a short rest from training would do me good and I would be in the mood to hit it like never before. Unfortunately the only thing I have been hitting like never before is the all you can eat buffets.  Really..actually ate at the Chinese Super Buffet.  I had no idea the Chinese ate so many fried foods.  Fried and breaded sweet potatoes, donuts, chicken mcnuggets.  I am surprised that China does not have more of an obesity problem.  I have also gone out the last few weekends to enjoy the Brewers, Badgers and Packers with my rowdy friends that I have not hung out with for six months. (A shout out to my boys Jeff and Scott and badger girls Kelley (and whatever your boyfriend's name was) and Jenn..and of course my designated driver, wingman and caretaker Kristine). Needless to say this involved partaking in alcohol and fried foods. (mmm. cheese curds)   In the last six months before my Ironman race I ate pretty good and did not drink at all.  The night of the Badger/Nebraska game I drank six months of fruity drinks.  I decided to do the rainbow by doing one drink of every color.. long island iced tea (brown) Blue Hawaiin (blue) Some sort of red fruity drink(red), screw driver(orange), grasshopper(green) girl scout cookie (green again), purple people eater (purple), axe murderer (red again)  all topped of with an Irish Car Bomb. Needless to say I felt less than stellar..but the Badgers did win.  I also apparently came down with a case of food poisoning that night and next day since I just really did not feel well.. of course sleeping on a tile floor curled up in a ball did not help either. So the fruity drinks are out of the system now..both figuratively and literally and I will not need to have one of those again for a year.  Some how I have also put on weight.  As of today I am up 11 lbs from 9-11-11. A magnificent 215 on the scale.

Worse yet the motivation to work out has just not been there.  I think partly because the triathlon season is over and I have no goal staring me in the face.  Another is that the group rides and workouts are also pretty much over for the season.  I think I am much more of a team sport guy then an individual sport enthusiast.  This may be part of my midwestern upbringing where team sports are popular and hanging out after the game is even more popular.  I started playing volleyball again which is fun..and much less of a strain on my knees since losing my weight.  I am also contemplating joining a soccer league ( a sport I have never played before) just because of the camaraderie.  Triathlon is an individual sport for the most part but I always try to have a training partner or partners. For me being part of a team is huge.  When I mountain biked in the midwest it was always a group activity..in Colorado you see a lot of solo mountain bikers. I have half-joked with my coach that we need to get team kits so we can be identified as a unit. ( Honey Badgers  ..Because Honey Badgers don't care...Honey Badgers are Bad Ass.)  For some reason it is much more fun and satisfying to me to accomplish something as a team rather than an individual.

I have also soured on the sport of triathlon a bit.  I have met a lot of great people while doing triathlons..but I have also met a lot of complete d-bags.  I think for some reason the individual sports seem to attract a larger number of anti-social, self centered, arrogant individuals that do not mesh well with my personality.  And in my opinion, the proportion of these d-bags increases as their eliteness increases (or more likely their perceived eliteness).  Yes I know that this is a gross generalization and some of the elite athletes I have met are some of the most wonderful people I know..but I am just going off my experience.

Unfortunately I meet the guy in the video above on a lot of my rides and it really ticks me off and adds to my "experience" database.

So I am done whining now.  I need to get back on the horse. My run fitness has nose-dived, I think I remember how to swim and unbelievably my bike fitness still seems to be ok.  My plan of attack for the next month is to set my race goals, get back on track nutritionally and schedule my workouts as I would meetings so I don't miss any more.

I was able to have a great ride last weekend with my coach Sonja (one of the truly wonderful elite athletes that I have met) and a few of the ponies in her stable.  The ride made me remember how much I actually do like the sport and the majority of the people in it that I have met.  I will also be reading the blogs of my online buddies to help me keep motivated. (You can too..they are listed on the side bar).  Hope everyone is well and keeps moving forward.

A Year In Review

Ok..not quite a year but close enough.  I was disappointed not finishing IMMOO 2011 and thus have decided to look at the bright side of things. In 2010 I finished a sprint triathlon in Maple Grove Minnesota. The Dare to Tri race is in Maple Grove (obviously) and 2010 was the inaugural race. It was fantastic.  There is a sprint and olympic distance and in 2011 they partnered with Tristar 111 and added a completely different race distance. A 1 km swim, 100 km bike and 10k run. Macca raced the event this year and said he would be back in 2012.  I really want to do this race but it is only 3 weeks out from Ironman Wisconsin. If you ever get the chance to sign up for the race you should do so. It is a blast and the little extras..like engraving your finishing medal onsite with your time are awesome.

Anyway I did the race in August 2010 and looked back at how I progressed in 13 months.  At Maple Grove I had to swim a little over 500 yards.  I averaged 2:30 per 100 yards and at IMMOO I averaged under 2:00 per 100 over 2.4 miles (4100 yards).  I averaged a little over 15 miles an hour on the bike for the sprint race..at IMMOO with quite a bit more elevation gain I averaged 14.5 mph over 112 miles.  Not the greatest speed but I was pleased.  At Racine I averaged over 16 mph over 56 miles.  Lastly, I walked/ran the 3 miles in the sprint and averaged a little under 12:00 minute miles.  During training for IMMOO I was running 12 -13 minute miles over 13 miles.  I think my fitness improved significantly.  One huge improvement was in my quad, hamstring and hip strength from the training. I have been dealing with issues related to my knee surgery in 1998 since..well 1998.  My right leg has been significantly weaker than the left ever since the surgery..often times causing me to run in circles. I saw my PT Joy last week and she said the strength I had gained was incredible and it is by far the best she has seen my leg in the three years she has known me.  By the way if anyone in the Denver area needs the best Physical Therapist around for athletes Joy is the one to see at University of Colorado Sports Medicine.  She knows her stuff, is an athletic trainer also and can deal with head cases (she has dealt with me for a number of years).  Also I think the photos below show that I lost a little bit of weight. (Amazingly enough I am wearing the same tri shorts in each picture - spandex is truly a miracle fabric)

the original fat boy (233)

new and improved 203 (down from 242)

I have learned quite a bit in the last year. From learning how to swim efficiently with total immersion, train while still having a family life from my coach Suzanne at Steel City Endurance, to how to pee on the bike.  Unfortunately I was never able to practice this in real life since I was never hydrated enough to actually need to go..but I did get advice from some of the best.   I also met a number of wonderful people..from those I shared some training time with (Doreen, Kelli 1, Kelli 2, Angela), to fellow racers in Racine like Doug from Marshfield, and elite triathletes..Go Sonja!!! - who as I write this is only a few hours removed from finishing the Ironman World Championship in Kona in 10:08:44. 

Lastly it has been great getting into a healthy lifestyle and sharing the sport with my family and friends. My sister-in-law Adrianne finished her second tri at Maple Grove this year PRing..and my wife Kristine is now firmly into the lifestyle and will probably be beating my butt in the near future. My soon to turn 4 year old daughter now gets off her bike and then wants to run after she goes through transition.  She also says "on your left" when she passes people on the walking path.  Finishing IMMOO 2012 is the goal for this next year but like this year I think the journey with my family and friends will be the real reward.